RILA responds to swipe reform legislation

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ARLINGTON, Va. -- First it was NRF and now the Retail Industry Leaders Association is coming out against efforts to delay swipe reform legislation. In response to legislation introduced on Tuesday by Montana senator Jon Tester to reopen critical reforms of the debit payments market, RILA issued the following statement:

“Despite the American people’s repeated disapproval of bank bailouts, the Tester bill is just that, this time at the expense of retailers and their consumers,” said Katherine Lugar, executive VP for public affairs, RILA.

“The bipartisan swipe fee reforms signed into law last year will bring fairness and competition to the broken debit market and will save consumers billions by ending decades of price-fixing by Visa and MasterCard,” added Lugar. “We urge Senators and Members of Congress to stand up for merchants and consumers and leave swipe fee reform alone.”

The bipartisan reforms signed into law a year ago are scheduled to go into effect July 21.